Medicine: save us from our sins

Placebo Gazette #33 is up.

Just so you don’t lose hope, I wanted to update you on the state of health insurance in this country. Good news! UnitedHealthcare Group saw its first quarter earnings rise 41% from last year. Yes! And they pulled this off only by increasing premiums and getting more people to join the plan and not by cutting salaries of their executives. Thanks goodness. As the AP reported, Chairman and Chief Executive William W. McGuire told analysts it was "about as good a quarter as we have seen, and the outlook for the future (is) very strong." Later in the article he even admits that medical costs are dropping. Wow! I wondered to myself, with medical costs dropping, maybe they can cut premiums? Then I thought, why should they? They can just keeping raising their rates and make mo’ money, mo’ money and mo’ money. Since this was a business article, by the way, it was intended for stockholders or potential stockholders and not for people who want to make the healthcare system more affordable (like me and you).